The Early Days:While still working as an
insurance clerk at Commercial Union, Leonard Rossiter had started to
act
in his spare time. His first public performance was with the Adastra
Players
in a play by Terence Rattigan called Flare Path, in which he played the
role of Flight Lieutenant Graham. He then became a member of The Centre
Players of The Wavertree Community Centre Drama Group, in the famous
Penny
Lane of Liverpool, Leonard's home town. Altogether, he was a member of
five local amateur dramatic societies before he decided to give up his
job and act professionally. In 1954, he auditioned for the Preston
Repertory
Company - known as 'Preston Rep.' - at the Royal Hippodrome, Preston.
The
part being auditioned was that of Bert Gay in Joseph Colton's The Gay
Dog.
Despite two terrible read-throughs - and the director of the play, Alan
Foss, rejecting him - the manager of the theatre, Reginald Salberg,
sensed
a talent within this nervous 27-year old, and Alan Foss reluctantly
changed
his mind. And so, on September 6th 1954, Leonard Rossiter made his
first
professional appearance as an actor. The rest, as they say, is
history...and
below is the first part of that history.Leonard's Roles
Remembered:"I first met Len in 1949
when I was acting with The Centre Players. One of the first things that
struck me about him was his great sense of fun - and by God he needed
it
because subsequently we joined four other dramatic societies and seemed
to be learning lines and rehearsing every evening and keeping the day
jobs
going at the same time!" - Keith Smith.

Notes:Keith Smith appeared in
the final episode of The
Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin with Leonard, almost thirty years
later. He played Percy Lisburn, the gay manager of one of Reggie's Grot
shops.

Picture:A rare picture of Leonard
in action on stage with The Centre Players in 1951. The performance was
Gathering Storm, directed by David Davies. Leonard played a man who
murdered
his grandmother and then persuaded his simple brother that he had
killed
her while he was sleep-walking. From left to right: June Holland,
Eleanor
Hunt, John Roden, Leonard Rossiter, Myfanwy Williams, and George
Pickersgill.

Leonard's Role
Remembered:"He gave such a good
performance
that we engaged him as Assistant Stage Manager/actor...Len was a very
loyal
man and always acknowledged his debt to me, not only because I
launched
him on his career, but because I talked him out of giving up the stage
at a time, a few years later, when he felt his career was making
insufficient
progress." - Reggie Salberg."Len was dedicated and a
perfectionist even in those days. He was so intense about his work
which
meant he wasn't the most relaxed of people. But he was always word
perfect
and one of the most professional actors I've ever worked with. He
expected
everyone to work as hard as he did. You had to keep up with him, or
otherwise
you'd know it!" - Frederick Jaeger.

Leonard Remembers:"It was 1954 that I did
my very first job in Preston, at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre, which hs
long since disappeared - I think it's C & A's now. I came here for
a fortnight from Liverpool, which is my home town." "I left the
job
with the insurance company when I got the job for a fortnight here
[Preston].
At the end of the fortnight, the manger Reggie Salberg said I could
stay
on if I wanted as Assistant Stage Manager, which I did. I was here for
about five months - and then the theatre closed!"

The story of a love
triangle
played out on a desert island after a husband, his wife and her best
friend
are shipwrecked.

Leonard played the
role
of First Stranger.

Leonard's Role
Remembered:"..For this part a man of
excellent physique was needed. Len used to say how worried he was when
I asked him to strip off (to see if he was well enough equipped); he
thought
all those stories of sexually perverted managers must have been true!"

Come
Live With MeOctober 1954Written by Dorothy and
Campbell
ChristieDirected by Geoffrey
WardwellPerformed at Preston
Repertory
Company, Royal Hippodrome Preston.

Leonard played the
role
of Gustave.

The Perfect WomanNovember 1954Written by Wallace
Geoffrey
and Basil MitchellDirected by Oliver GordonPerformed at Preston
Repertory
Company, Royal Hippodrome Preston.

A professor creates a
robotic
woman and decides to get a man and his valet to 'try her out' around
town.
However, the professor's niece, fed up at not being allowed out lest
she
meet men, decides to impersonate the robot. A farcical comedy that ends
in chaos.

Leonard played the
role
of Winkel, the waiter in the restaurant.

Leonard's Role
Remembered:"...In spite of suffering
unspeakable indignities (such as having a large vegetable dish, full,
stuffed
down the front of his trousers by Oliver Gordon and myself) gave a
brilliantly
funny performance - one of the many to come - and it didn't need a
clairvoyant
to predict that here was a very rare talent indeed....Only the best was
good enough, and the best was what the public invariably got." -
Frederick
Jaeger.

As Long As They're HappyDecember 1954Written by Vernon SylvaineDirected by Geoffrey
WardwellPerformed at Preston
Repertory
Company, Royal Hippodrome Preston.

A farcical comedy
concerning
the worries John Bentley, a father, has over his three irrepressible
daughters
and their husbands. Hiring the German psychiatrist Hermann Schneider
(Rossiter),
he tells Bentley to act the same, to give them a taste of their own
medicine.
The plan, eventually, works.

When We Are MarriedFebruary 1955Written by J. B. PriestleyDirected by Geoffrey
WardwellPerformed at Preston
Repertory
Company, Royal Hippodrome Preston.

Three families, the
Helliwells,
Parkers and Soppitts, who were married on the same day by the same
parson,
gather to celebrate their silver anniversary. But panic sets in when
they
hear that the parson was not authorised to conduct marriage ceremonies.

Leonard played
Alderman
Joseph Helliwell.

The Same SkyFebruary 1955Written by Yvonne MitchellDirected by Geoffrey
WardwellPerformed at Preston
Repertory
Company, Royal Hippodrome Preston.

Notes:During his time at The
Grand,
Leonard was often directed by John Barron. Many years later, after they
had become good friends, John and Leonard teamed up as Reginald Perrin
and his tyrannical boss C.J., in 'The
Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'.

Leonard Remembers
his
Rep. years:"There was no time to
discuss
the finer points of interpretation. You studied your part, you did it,
and then you studied the next part. I developed a frightening capacity
for learning lines. The plays became like Elastoplast, which you just
stuck
on and then tore off. It was the perfect preparation for rehearsing
situation
comedy on television at the rate of one episode a week." - quoted by
Jim
Grace, Sunday Telegraph.

A man, Gerald,
rents
Rookery Nook where his wife, Clara, will join him later.
Meanwhile
a pretty girl, on the run from her horrible stepfather, begs to stay
with
him. Gerald tries to conceal her presence when his wife arrives.

The Living RoomJune 1955Written by Graham GreeneDirected by John BarronPerformed at Wolverhampton
Repertory Company, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.

After her mother's
death
young Rose comes to live with her two elderly, religious aunts and
their
brother James, a crippled priest (Rossiter). Every room where someone
has
died has been shut up, leaving only one open. Rose, who has been the
mistress
of an elderly psychologist, wants to go away with him. She begs the
help
of the priest but when he can offer her no comfort she commits suicide
in the one remaining room - the 'living room'.

Leonard played the
role
of Father James Browne.

Down
Came A BlackbirdJune 1955Written by Peter BlackmoreDirected by John BarronPerformed at Wolverhampton
Repertory Company, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.

A Streetcar Named DesireJuly 1955Written by Tennessee
WilliamsDirected by John BarronPerformed at Wolverhampton
Repertory Company, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.

Blanche DuBois comes to
live
in the slums of Elysian Fields, New Orleans, with her sister Stella and
Stella's husband Stanley Kowalski. Blanche enrages Stanley by her airs
and affectations, her perpetual reminiscences about her genteel past
and
her open distaste for his coarse vitality. When he discovers that all
her
refinement is a mere facade, he has no compunction in destroying
Blanche's
only hope of salvation, which is to marry his friend Mitch.

Leonard played the
role
of Howard Mitchell

Meet A BodyAugust 1955Written by Frank Launder
and Sidney GilliatDirected by John BarronPerformed at Wolverhampton
Repertory Company, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.

Hawkins (Rossiter), is
a
timid watchmaker with a part time job – he is also a professional
assassin.
Hawkins bumps off all the people we love to hate, but when pompous MP
Sir
Gregory Upshott is the intended target, bungling vacuum cleaner
salesman
William Blake always gets in the way. As the time of the assassination
draws ever closer, Hawkins tracks his victim to a dilapidated seaside
hotel
called the Green Man, and the laughs and the tension steadily rise to a
brilliant climax.

Leonard played the
lead
role of Mr. Hawkins.

Notes:This play was made into
a classic British film called 'The Green Man', starring Alastair Sim
and
George Cole.

Witness
For The ProsecutionAugust 1955Written by Agatha ChristieDirected by John BarronPerformed at Wolverhampton
Repertory Company, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.

Although circumstantial
evidence
is damning, Leonard Vole (Rossiter) convinces even the perceptive Sir
Wilfred
that he is innocent of murder. In the mounting tension of the trial
there
are three amazing developments. Vole's wife takes the stand and coldly
swears away her husband's alibi. A brassy young woman then sells Sir
Wilfred
letters proving Mrs Vole has committed perjury. Vole is acquitted but
only
then does Sir Wilfred discover how this acquittal has been engineered
by
Mrs Vole.

Mrs Erlynne, the mother
of
Lady Windermere - her daughter does not know about her - wants to be
introduced
in society, so that she can marry Lord Augustus Lorton. Lord
Windermere,
who helped her with a cheque, invites her to his wife's birthday party,
but Lady Windermere thinks, she has reason to be jealous, so she
decides
to leave her husband and go to Lord Darlington, who is pining for her.
Mrs Erlynne finds this out and tries to prevent her of this mistake,
but
her daughter leaves her fan in Lord Darlingtons residence.

A
housewife-turned-scriptwriter
goes to Hollywood to make her fortune but realises she needs her
demanding
family around her in order to write.

Leonard played the
role
of Stephen Hodgson

I Am A CameraSeptember 1955Written by John van DrutenDirected by John BarronPerformed at Wolverhampton
Repertory Company, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.

In the early 1930s,
aspiring
writer Christopher Isherwood, living in Berlin, meets the vivacious,
penniless
singer Sally Bowles. They develop a platonic relationship while Sally
has
a wild time spending other peoples money.

Leonard played the
role
of Clive Mortimer.

Seven Year
ItchSeptember 1955Written by George AxelrodDirected by John BarronPerformed at Wolverhampton
Repertory Company, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.

Like many other
Manhattan
husbands, Richard Sherman sends his wife and son to the country for the
summer, while he stays behind to toil. Though revelling in temporary
bachelor
freedom of lifestyle, he's resolved not to carouse and philander like
some
others. But his overactive, over-vivid imagination goes into overdrive
when a delightfully unconventional, voluptuous blonde moves in upstairs.

Four naval ratings
doing
experimental work on an island in Scapa Flow find a hard life made
harder
by a bullying Petty Officer and the death in an explosion of one of
their
number. Matters do not improve when they are joined by a technician who
turns out to be the man who stole the cockney Badger's (Rossiter) wife,
but they battle on to the end of their mission and are rewarded with
leave.

She Would And She
Would NotDecember 1955Written by Colley CibberDirected by John BarronPerformed at Salisbury
Repertory
Company, The Playhouse, Salisbury.

In this 18th Century
comedy
of intrigue, a heroine dresses up as a man and acts the rival to her
own
lover.

Leonard played the
role
of Trappanti, a brazen, lying varlet.

Critical Reviews:"Leonard Rossiter brought
gusto to a stock character." - W. A. Darlington, Daily Telegraph."The real life of the
revival
is Mr. Rossiter who, made up to look like a frontispiece to a whole
volume
of roguery, often gave the plot real animation." - The Times.

Notes:Such a rarely-performed
play, critics from London journeyed specially to Salisbury to see this
play. It co-starred John Graham and Doreen Andrew, pictured, with
Leonard
on the right.